A Retrospective Analysis of 2-Year Follow-Up of Patients with Incidental Findings of Sarcoidosis

Oluwabukola Thomas-Orogan; Shaney L Barratt; Muhammad Zafran; Apollo Kwok; Anneliese Simons; Eoin P Judge; Matthew Wells; Richard Daly; Charles Sharp; Abiramy Jeyabalan; Martin Plummeridge; Ladli Chandratreya; Lisa G Spencer; Andrew R L Medford; Huzaifa I Adamali

doi:10.3390/diagnostics14030237

A Retrospective Analysis of 2-Year Follow-Up of Patients with Incidental Findings of Sarcoidosis

Diagnostics (Basel). 2024 Jan 23;14(3):237. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics14030237.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Bristol Interstitial Lung Disease Service, North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol BS10 5NB, UK.
² Liverpool Interstitial Lung Disease Service, Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool L7 8XP, UK.
³ Department of Cellular Pathology, North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol BS10 5NB, UK.
⁴ Department of Radiology, North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol BS10 5NB, UK.
⁵ North Bristol Lung Centre, North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol BS10 5NB, UK.

Abstract

Introduction: Sarcoidosis is a multi-system granulomatous disease most commonly involving the lungs. It may be incidentally diagnosed during imaging studies for other conditions or non-specific symptoms. The appropriate follow-up of incidentally diagnosed asymptomatic stage 1 disease has not been well defined.

Objective: To define the clinical course of incidentally diagnosed asymptomatic stage 1 sarcoidosis and propose an algorithm for the follow-up of these patients.

Methodology: A retrospective case note analysis was performed of all EBUS-TBNA (endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration)-confirmed cases of stage 1 sarcoidosis presenting incidentally to Bristol and Liverpool Interstitial Lung Disease services. Clinical history, serology results, imaging scans, and lung function parameters were examined at baseline, 12, and 24 months. A cost analysis was performed comparing the cost of the current 2-year follow-up guidance to a 1 year follow-up period.

Results: Sixty-seven patients were identified as the final cohort. There was no significant change in the pulmonary function tests over the two-year follow-up period. Radiological disease stability was observed in the majority of patients (58%, n = 29), and disease regression was evidenced in 40% (n = 20) at 1 year. Where imaging was performed at 2 years, the majority (69.8%, n = 37) had radiological evidence of disease regression, and 30.2% (n = 16) showed radiological evidence of stability. All patients remained asymptomatic and did not require therapeutic intervention over the study period.

Conclusions: Our results show that asymptomatic patients with incidental findings of thoracic lymph nodal non-caseating granulomas do not progress over a 2-year period. Our results suggest that the prolonged secondary-care follow-up of such patients may not be necessary. We propose that these patients are followed up for 1 year with a further year of patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) prior to discharge.

Keywords: follow-up; pulmonary sarcoidosis; sarcoidosis; thoracic lymphadenopathy.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.